| A-xx |
US aicraft model designator for attack jets,
such as the A-10. |
| AA |
Anti-Aircraft. Weapons used to down aircraft. |
| AAA |
Anti-Aircraft Artillery. Also "Triple
A" or flak; heavy version of the AA gun, often mounted on an armored vehicle. |
| AAC |
Army Air Corps. |
| AAH |
Advanced Attack Helicopter. |
| AAM |
Air-to-Air Missile. |
| AB |
Afterburner capability; Airbase. |
| AFCS |
Automatic Flight Control System. Controls both
the autopilot and auto-hover mechanisms. |
| AFV |
Armored Fighting Vehicle. Used in front line
combat, essentially a tank with tires instead of treads. |
| AGL |
Above Ground Level. Measure of a plane's
altitude above the terrain it is flying over. In other words, a plane may be flying at
1,500 ft off the ground. |
| AGM |
Air-to-Ground Missile. |
| AH-xx |
Attack helicopter, such as the AH-1
"Cobra" or the AH-64 "Apache". |
| Airfoil |
Curved wing or blade surface designed to produce
lift when air passes over it. |
| Airframe |
Basic construction of the aircraft (doors,
landing gear, seats, cabin, etc.) |
| AIM |
Air Intercept Missile. |
| ALARM |
Air-Launched Anti-Radiation Missile. Missile
with active infrared transmitter in nose that home in on target emitting heat energy. |
| AMRAAM |
Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.
Missile with active radar transmitter in nose that tracks target allowing "fire and
forget" tactics. |
| Angels |
Altitude in thousands of feet. "angels
Ten" indicates 10,000 ft of altitude. |
| AoA |
Angle of Attack. Aerodynamic angle formed
between the choed of an airfoil and the direction of the relative wind. |
| AoT |
Angle off Tail. Angle between the flight path of
an attacker and its target. |
| AP |
Armor Piercing, a type of ammunition |
| APC |
Armored Personnel Carrier. Armed, rough-terrain
vehicle with tracks or wheels used to transport troops. |
| APR-39 |
Digital threat warning system used on
helicopters and light aircraft. |
| APU |
Auxillary Power Unit. |
| ASE |
Aircraft survivability Equipment. An aircraft's
defensive systems (i.e., RWR, jammers, chaff and flares). |
| Aspect Angle |
Angle from which a target is viewed. 45R means a
view of the target's right wing from a 45 degree angle. |
| ASL |
Above Sea Level. Aircraft's altitude above sea
level (in feet). |
| ASTOVL |
Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing.
X-32 development program. |
| AT |
Anti-tank. |
| ATGM |
Anti-tank Guided Missile. Missile guided by
lasers, wires, or infrared signals, invariably with a HEAT warhead. |
| ATGW |
Anti-Tank Guided Weapon, used by the British
instead of ATGM. |
| ATGS |
Airborne Target Handoff Subsystem data link. |
| ATF |
Advanced Tactical Fighter. Group of prototypes
that employ state of the art design, material, avionics and weaponry to enhance combat
performance. Term come from the original name for the F-22 program. |
| Attack Jet |
A jet aircraft whose sole purpose is to attack
ground targets. It's not designed for air-to-air combat. |
| AWACS |
Airborne Warning and Control System. Aircraft
fitted with long range radar that provide tactical and target information to air and
ground control units. Ususally big, slow and extremely high priority, both to defend and
to attack. |
| BARCAP |
Barrier Combat Air Patrol. Fighters for a
barrier to prevent enemy aircaft from entering a designatied airspace of approaching a
friendly target. Generally set up along most probable corrididor of approach, often
involves fighter relays. |
| B/N |
Bombadier/Navigator. US Navy term for co-pilot
operator that handles nvifatoin and targeting operations on bombing missions. |
| Bandit |
Confirmed enemy aircraft. |
| Bogey |
Unidentified aircraft. |
| Battlesight |
Actually a sight confirmation of a cannon's
optics, but in practice it means the sighting range where the ammunition flight path
matches the center cross-hairs on the sight. That is, the "straight line" limit
of the ammunition.
|
| Blitzkrieg |
Fast-moving armored warfare. In German
"blitz" means "lightning" ang "kreig" means "war". |
| BMP-x |
Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty. Russian combat vehicle
for transporting infantry; also called 'bimp'. The first IFV was the BMP-1. |
| BTR-xx |
Bronetransportr (literally, armored personnel
carrier). Russian wheeled armored personel carriers, including the BTR-60, BTR-70
and BTR-80. |
| Buttoned |
Hache or hatches closed. |
| BVR |
Beyond Visual Range. |
| C³ |
Communications, Command and Control. This is a
common military buzzword for the process of command in battle. |
| C³I |
Communications, Command, Control and
Intelligence. a recent expresion of C³ (see above). |
| Canards |
Small fixed or variable wings in front of an
airplane's main wings. Canard means 'duck' in French - the name comes from the pre-WWI
plane that first featured these wings and was nicknamed 'The Duck'. |
| CAP |
Combat Air Patrol. Cruising at medium-to-high
altitude over a certain area in search of enemy planes. |
| CAS |
Close Air Support. Dropping bombs in support of
ground troops - also known as an air strike. |
| Center of
Gravity |
Single, imaginary point where the resultant
force of all weight forces occurs (also known as center of lift). |
| Chaff |
Strips of metal film released to confues and
reflect signals from radar-guided weapons. |
| Chord |
Imaginary line that passes throught the leading
and trailing edges of an airfoil. See angle of attack. |
| CM |
Countermeasures. Used by airborne vehicles in
degense against air-to-air or SAM weapons (e.g., chaff, flares, jammers). |
| CO |
Commanding Officer. The commander of a military
unit. |
| Coax |
Coaxial. Strictly speaking, a mounting that
shares the same axis of moverment. It generally means a machine-gun mounted beside a
main gun. It does not move independantly. The gunner has his choice of fiering the
main gun or the coaxial machine-gun. |
| Composites |
Plastic or resin materials reinforced with other
fibrous materials to create a stroing lightweight material that bends only in one
direction. |
| Corner Speed |
Point at which maximum lift occurs with the
least amount of airspeed. |
| CP/G |
Co-Pilot Gunner. SIts in the front seat of
helicopters with tandem seating, and on the left in helicopters with side-by-side seating. |
| DASE |
Digital Auto-stablization Equipment. |
| DoD |
Department of Defense. |
| Drag |
Force that counteracts an object in motion
through the air, such as air resistance. |
| ECM |
Electronic Countermeasures. Countermeasure that
use the electromagnetic spectrum to confuse or defeat enemy radar and sensor systems. |
| EFM |
Enhanced Fighter Manueverability. Aircraft
designed withthe airm of increasing turn and AoA performance during combat. |
| EW |
Electronic Warfare. |
| EW/GCI |
Early Warning/Ground Control Intercept. |
| FAC |
Forward Air Controller. An officer whith army
and air force radios who coordinates air support for front-line troops. Based on
requests and what he can see, the FAC gives pilots specific instructions about where
and how to attack |
| FARP |
Forward Arming & Refueling Point. Highly
mobile helicopter base; normally airlifted in by heavy
transport helicopters. |
| Flight
Envelope |
Graphical guide showing the aircraft's limits in
airspeed, altitude and G-load, and the aircraaft's current position within those limits. |
| FBW |
Fly by Wire. Computer-aided flight control -
flight computer corrects pilor control input according to the flight ocndition data
(altitude, airspeed) it receives, and uses this to adjust flight surfaces. |
| FitRep |
Fitness Report. A report by commander that
recomends subordinates for promotion(or not, as appropriate). |
| Flare |
Cartridge-shaped source of heat energy used to
divert infrared-homing missiles. |
| FLIR |
Forward-Looking Infrared. Sensor that 'reads'
the heat signatures of nearby objects. Similar to the thermal imager but optimized
to show ground detail and large objects. |
| FLOT |
Forward Line, Own Troops. Current designation
for the front line closest to the enemy. |
| FO |
Forward Observer. A sergant or officer who
requests artillery fire, spots and corrects its fall. He has radio communication
with the artillery, which is usually miles behind the front line. |
| FOB |
Forward Operating Base. |
| FOR |
Field of Regard. Total extent to which a comera
or missile seeker head can pivot or 'look'. |
| FOV |
Field of View. Extent a camera or missile seeker
head can 'see' in a given position. |
| GIB |
Guy-in-back. Slang term for WSO, RIO, and B/N. |
| GPS |
Global Positioning System. Satellite-based
navigation system. Also Gunners Primary Sight. |
| HARM |
High-speed, Anti-Radiation Missile. Missile
whose seeker head home in on radar-emitting sources. |
| HE |
High Explosive. A type of warhead used mainly in
cannon shells. |
| HEAT |
High Explosive, Anti-tank. A "sharped
charge" warhead designed to punch through steel armor. It's also effective
against non-armored targets. |
| HIRSS |
Hover Infrared Suppressor System. |
| HMG |
Heavy Machine-gun. Usually 12mm to 15mm bore
diameter. |
| HUD |
Heads-Up Display. Glass mounted at the fornt of
the cockpit. The pilot looks forward through the glass, and important combat and flight
information is reflected onto the HUD and superimposed over his view of the outside world. |
| HVM |
High-Velocity Missile. |
| ICS |
Internal Communication System. Communications
link between pilot, CP/G (and crew on some helicopters). |
| IFF |
Identification Friend or Foe. A coded message
sent to a target's IFF transponder. If correct coded reply is received, the IFF
interrogator reports 'friendly'. |
| IFV |
Infantry Fighting Vehicle. A lightly armored
vehicle that carries a cannon turret, an ATGM, and a squad of infantry. |
| IHADSS |
Integrated Helmet and Display Sight System.
Coordinates sensor and targeting systems with pilot's head movements; computer displays
flight info and targeting data over camera images in the helmet's eyepiece. |
| Image
Intensifier |
A night vision aid that multiples the available
light ti thousands of times its normal intensety. Also known as a "starlight
scope" because a small amount of moonlight or starlight is needed. |
| ILS |
Instrument Landing System. A radio device at
airfields that assists polots in low-visability landings. |
| INS |
Internal Navigation System. Tracks a
helicopter's current position and its desired position. |
| IR |
Infrared. Range of the electromagnetic spectrum
where a signal's intensity is directly related to its heat signature. |
| Jammer |
Electronic countermeasure that emits microwaves
to distort/confuse enemy radarscopes |
| Knot |
Measure of speed equal to one nautical mile per
hour. See nautical mile or/and speedometer. |
| Lag Pursuit |
Refers to pointing an aircraft's nose just
behind an enemy's flight path during a turn. |
| Lase |
The act of fiering a laser beam at a target. |
| Laser |
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emisions of
Radiaton. A beam of coherent light. |
| LAW |
Light Anti-tank Weapon. A man-portable anti-tank
rocket with a small HEAT warhead. It's notable for it's small size and weight. |
| LMG |
Light Machine-gun. Lightweight 5-8mm machine-gun
that can be fired while standing, box or clip ammunition supply is ussually smaller
than the ammunition belts used in MMGs and HMGs. |
| LGB |
Laser-Guided Bomb. |
| Lead Pursuit |
Refers to pointing an aircraft's nose just ahead
of an enemy's flight path during a turn. |
| Leading |
Refers to aiming just ahead of an enemy's flight
path. |
| LOS |
Line of Sight. A straight, unblocked path
between a missile's seeker head or designation system and its target. |
| LZ |
Landing Zone. Designated landing area for
parachute or helicopter units. |
| Mach |
Speed of sound at sea level (760 ft/s) that is
measured in multiples (Mach1, Mach 2, etc.) |
| MBT |
Main Battle Tank. Medium and heavy tanks. |
| MFD |
Multi-Function Display. |
| Mi-xx |
Helicopter designed by Mil bureau. This is the
main design bureau for russian helicopters. |
| MIGCAP |
MIG Close Air Patrol. Patrol of an area insearch
of enemy aircraft, no specified objective to protect. |
| Mortar |
A small, light quasi-artillery piece that fires
"bomblets" in a high arc. |
| MRLS |
Multiple Rocket Launcher System. |
| NATO |
North American Treaty Organization. A mutual
defense treaty that includes 16 nations. They are all European based with the exceptions
of the United States and Canada. |
| Nautical Mile |
Aeronautical measurement of distance equal to
6,076ft. (1ft = 30.48cm) |
| NOE |
Nap of the Earth. Flight at very low altitude,
using terrain for cover. |
| Obsolescent |
Outdated but not yet useless; not quite
obsolete. Obsolesent equipment is often used in (theoretically) less demanding
roles. |
| Obsolete |
So outdated it's no longer useful, functionally
useless. |
| OH-xx |
Observation Helicopter, US Military Designation. |
| Ordnance |
Expendable armament, such as missiles and
ammunition. |
| PDF |
Panamanian Defense Force. |
| PGM |
Precision Guided Munition. 'Smart Bomb' (a
guided bomb). |
| PNVS |
Pilot's Night Vision Sensor. Device that aids
night vision by translating heat emissions into pictures. |
| Point of
Impact |
Point along the leading edge of an airfoil where
the air separates and flows over the top and bottom of the airfoil. |
| Radar
Signature |
Indication of an aircraft's visability to radar,
also called its radar cross section (RCS). Radar waves reflect off of vertical surfaces
and sharp corners and create signatures on the detecting radarscope. |
| RAM |
Radar Absorbent Material. Material containing
thousands of absorbant pockets that convert reader beams into heat or small
electromagnetic fields, reducing overall radar cross-section. |
| Recon |
American slang for reconnaissance. Scouting
enemy positions. |
| RCS |
Radar Cross Section. |
| RDF |
Rapid Deployment Force. Military force capable
of quick movement, often used to respond to military hotspots. |
| Relative Wind |
Force created as an airfoil moves through the
air. It equals the airfoil's forward velocity, but acts in the opposite direction. This is
a method of looking at an airfoil moving through the air from a different frame of
reference in which the airfoil is stationary and a wind equal to the actual forward
velocity of the blade is passing over it. |
| Resultant
Force |
Sum of all forces acting on an object. On a
plane, the resultant force determines what direction the aircraft moves. |
| RIO |
Radar Intercept Officer. US Navy term for
back-seat weapons and targeting systems operator. |
| RPG |
Reaktivniy Protivotankoviy Granatomet (Rocket
anti-tank grenade launcher), also known in the west as rocket-propeled grenade.
These russian weaponshave a launche tube and separet HEAT warhead rockets. Both are
bulky but lightweight. |
| RWR |
Radar Warning Receiver. Warns pilot when he is
being tracked by an enemy missile guidance system or air intercept radar. |
| RWS |
Radar While Search. Radar mode that uses
continuous wave emissions to provide contact range and bearing at extremely long range. |
| S1 |
Staff Officer - Adjutant. The principal staff
officer at a battalion headquarters. His duties include personnel assignments. |
| S2 |
Staff Offices - Intelligence. One of the staff
officers att a battalion headquarters. He finds and summorizes all information about
the enemy. |
| S3 |
Staff Officer - Operations & Training. One
of te staff officers att a battalion headquarters. He organizes and coordinates
battalion operations. |
| S4 |
Staff Officer - Logistics. One of the staff
officers at a battalion headquarters. He is responsible for all logistical support
(food, ammunition, fuel, repairs, replacements, etc.) |
| Sabot |
Common American term for "discarding
sabot" type anti-tank ammunition, such as APFSDS (armor piersing, fine
stabelized, discarded sabot). |
| SACLOS |
Semi-Activated Command Line-Of-Sight. A common
control system for anti-tank guided missiles. The gunner simply keeps the sight on
the target and the missile flies to that point. |
| SAM |
Surface-to-Air Missile. Any ground-launched
missile designed to shoot down helicopters, jets, or other aircraft. The category includes
small manpack SAMs such as the "Stinger", as well as large missiles on big
transports or fixed emplasements. |
| SARH |
Semi-Active Radar Homing. Radar-guided missile
that relies on aircraft radar guidance. |
| SEAD |
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. Misson to
destroy enemy air defense units. |
| Speedometer |
A driving gauge that shows the current speed of
the vehicle. US Army land vehicles are marked "kph" (kilometers in hour);
aircraft, including helicopters , are traditionally marked in kts (nautical miles per
hour). Conversions are 1.61 kph = 1 mph; 1.83 kph = 1 kt. |
| SSM |
Surface-to-Surface Missile. |
| Stadia |
Common abbreviation for Stadiametric, a type of
gunsight where mil markings placed on the sight help the gunner estimate range. |
| Stabilization |
In tanks, a systemwhere the gun barrel is kept
stedy regardless of hull moverment. Full stabilization includes horizontal
stabilization (turret turns left and right to compensate for hull movement) and vertical
stabilization (barrel moves up and down as the hull rocks forward and back).
Stabilization makes gunnery much easier.
If the vehicle ride is especially rough, stabilization may not fully compensate. |
| Stall |
'Loss of Lift' condition that occurs when the
angle of attack is too steep for the airfoil to provide any lift. During a stall, the
normally streamlined flow of air over the blade is disrupted. |
| STOVL |
Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing. Group of
aircraft that redirects thrust using vanes, nozzles or ligt fans for yaw and/or pitch
manueverability. |
| Su-xx |
Sukhoi aircraft; a russian aircraft design
bureau that is generally known for its fighter-bomber aircraft. |
| Superelivation |
Elevating a gun barrel above a straight line to
the target. With correct superelivation the shell arcs through the air for greater range.
Superelivation is requires whenever a gun fires beond battlesight range. |
| T-xx |
Tank or Tankovyi, Russian MBTs use this model
designation. Model numbers are roughly approximate the initial year of production. |
| Tachometer |
A drivers gauge that shows the engines RPMs
(revolutions per minute, usually in the thousands). This reprisente the power output of
the engine. If RPMs increase beond a "red line" level the engine can be damaged
or destroyed. |
| TADS |
Target Aquisition and Designation System. System
in Apache helicopters used to lock onto targets and to control laser designator. |
| TC |
Tank Commander, The senior crewman in a tank. |
| TF |
Task Force. A battalion or squadron sized combat
formation composed of mixed combat elements. |
| TFR |
Terrain Following Radar. |
| TFS |
Tactical Fighter Squadron. A-10's are commonly
assigned to these Air Force Units. |
| Thermal sight |
Also known as a Thermal Imager, it tranlates the
heat signature of a objects into a visual image. |
| Thrust |
Horizontal, directional force that overcomes
drag and powers the aircraft in the desired direction (usually forward, although some
aircraft can direct thrust at an angle). |
| TOW |
Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided -
an achronym used for the Army's standard heavy ATGM. The latest version is the "TOW
2". |
| Turbofan /
Turbojet |
Jet engine that produces thrust by passing
external air into the engine, moving it through several stages and igniting a fuel-air
mixture. |
| Turn Rate |
Number of degrees per second a particular
aircraft can turn. The higher the rate, the faster the turn |
| Turn Radius |
Radial distance required to complete a turn. The
smaller the radius, the shorter the turn. |
| Turtle |
US Army slang term for new arrivals to Korea.
Soldiers newly assigned to South Korea in-process at a building 12 feet away from the
out-processing building (which takes a 12 month tour of duty to reach, hence the term). |
| TWS |
Track While Scan. Radar mode that uses
pulse-Doppler radar to target a contact, providing detailed tracking information at short
range. |
| HARM |
High-speed, Anti-Radiation Missile. Missile
whose seeker head home in on radar-emitting sources. |
| HUD |
Heads-Up Display. Glass mounted at the fornt of
the cockpit. The pilot looks forward through the glass, and important combat and flight
information is reflected onto the HUD and superimposed over his view of the outside world. |
| HVM |
High-Velocity Missile. |
| Unbuttoned |
Among tankers, having a hatch or hatches open,
usually with the crewman's head showing, sometines with arms and torso outside as well. |
| Vectored
Thrust |
Thrust that is redirected using angled nozzles
or vanes, or lift fans. Some aircraft (such as the F-22) can vector in the pitch axis; the
XF-31 can vector in both the yaw/pitch axes. |
| VSI |
Vertical Speed Indicator. |
| Weapon
Envelope |
Effective area of attack for a weapon. Enemies
within this envelope are vulnerable to gun or missile fire. |
| WSO |
Weapons System Officer. US Navy term for
back-seat weapons and targeting systems operator. |
| XO |
Executive Officer. The second-in-command of a
military unit. Strictly speaking it applies only to command levels where the
second-in-command is also an officer, but it's often used in other situations, such as
"Meet my XO, Platoon Sergant Smith." |
| Zero-zero |
Ejection seat that can save a crew member's life
down to zero airspeed and zero altitude (full crash impact), as long as the aircraft is
not inverted. |
| ZSU |
Zenitnaia Samokhudnaia Ustanovka (self-propelled
anti-aircraft mount) translated from Russian. |
